Saturday 8 December 2012

These are the commonest queries I get when the topic of an edit system comes up.So, here's the status on FCP 7 as of Dec 2012. And if the world really ends on the 21st Dec 2012, none of this will matter.

FCP was introduced around the year 2000, and over the past decade has been through version 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Each time a new version was released, Apple stopped selling the earlier version. So when FCP 6 was released, FCP 5 was discontinued.

Last year, Apple discontinued FCP 7 and released FCP X. FCP X was not the next version of FCP, but a whole new application. It did not support many of the existing editing workflows but instead made an attempt to revamp the entire editing interface and methodology. There were many debates on whether this was good or not. And the debates will never stop.

Personally, I've bought FCP X and use it for some personal projects. With the latest version FCP X 10.0.6, Apple has covered many deficiencies, but a few remain. So I use both FCP 7 and FCP X. And I have apps that can move project from one to the other.

So, FCP 7 and FCP X work and will continue to work. If you own FCP 7 and its working on a system, it will continue working. If you buy a new system, you can install and continue to use FCP 7. Whatever bugs and issues there are in FCP 7, will remain and there will be no updates.

When Maruti introduced the Estilo, they discontinued the Zen. Meaning you could no longer buy a Zen. If you already had a Zen, it did not stop working and you can still drive it around. Eventually, over years, some parts will not be available. And you may need to stop using the Zen and get something else.

That's exactly how it is with FCP 7. Discontinued from selling, but working if sold earlier.

For those who have no clue on the Mac, MacOS X, and the relation to PCs running Windows…

FCP or Final Cut Pro is an editing software, not a complete system. It runs on Mac computers - MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, MacPro. Meaning, it will not run on Windows or on PCs running Windows. No, it will not run on your friend's Dell laptop,

MacOS X is an operating system like Windows. But unlike Windows, MacOS X runs only on Mac computers. MacOS X does not run on PCs from Dell, Lenovo, Acer, etc.

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About Me

I live and work in Mumbai, India. I do a bit of editing, do consultations on editing, digital intermediates, and general post workflows.
And tinker with Mac, PC and Linux systems and all kind of gadgets.